Abstract
Sustainability is based on the United Nation’s (UN) Brundtland Report, which defines economic, social and environmental factors that can ensure long-term economic viability while maintaining an environmental balance and showing commitment to socially desirable practices. Great focus has been on integrating environmental and economic factors into the project processes of construction. There is substantial potential in developing a strategic process to ensure that social sustainability is systematically incorporated into a project equally with economic and environmental factors. Research in the field is scarce and suggests that social sustainability is a secondary parameter even though it is integrated in building projects today. There is a tendency that decisions made regarding which social sustainability aspects is to be integrated in a project is based on experience from previous projects. There is a need of a strategic approach on how to handle and work with social sustainability that is based on more than experience. Can decisions be informed by quantifiable information about social sustainability as is the case with economic and environmental sustainability?
Highlights
Sustainability and sustainable development has been on the agenda for several decades
In this paper focus is on DGNB and WELL because they address social sustainability in a systematic way
The review of current work with social sustainability shows different approaches to work with social sustainability, common understandings of the social sustainability is seen on both an academic, industrial and political level
Summary
Sustainability and sustainable development has been on the agenda for several decades. Substantial research has been made on the development of tools and methods to work with economic (LCC) and environmental sustainability (LCA). It is seen in the literature, that there is still a great need for creating a common understanding of how to theorize, conceptualize and operationalize social sustainability in the built environment [3]. Defining criteria and indicators of social sustainability and developing a strategy on how to support the integration in any project, would help the building industry to go beyond the work that has already been made with LCC and LCA
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